What is Connecticut's Attractive Nuisance Doctrine?

Feb 9, 2018

What is Connecticut's Attractive Nuisance Doctrine?

Posted By
Fitzpatrick Mariano Santos Sousa P.C.

Parents can always tell you one of their worst fears is their children
running off and getting hurt or worse trying to play with something when
they don’t recognize the danger of doing so. Kids can find nearly
anything interesting, including things that you may not even think twice
about such as a pile of wood or other large piece of junk lying around.
Unfortunately a large number of kids are injured every year as a result.

However, for parents there is some good news: you do have the right to
hold the owner of these dangerous property features responsible thanks
to our state’s “attractive nuisance” doctrine. On this
blog, we’ll take a look at what this doctrine says and how you may
be able to apply it if your child is injured on someone else’s property.

Connecticut Attractive Nuisance Doctrine

To put it simple, the attractive nuisance doctrine says that property owners
have a responsibility and a duty to ensure that any and all potentially
attractive property features that can cause injury are secured so that
wandering and curious children cannot access them. When children can gain
access to one of these features and become injured by it, you as their
parent can hold the property owner accountable for the damages you incur
as a result of their injuries. This is similar to our state’s premises
liability laws, only with the added focus on children who don’t
recognize the danger of something that might catch their eye, and thus
their interest.

What Is an Attractive Nuisance?

What are these potentially-attractive property features? Well, pretty much
anything, really. While most people think of attractive nuisances as things
like swimming pools, jungle gyms, playground equipment, sandboxes, sports
equipment, and anything else that kids may see as an opportunity for fun,
what many adults also fail to recognize is that kids have an imagination.
As such, even things that you may think are the opposite of attractive
and fun-looking can also spark a child’s interest. Things like old
appliances (i.e. refrigerators, washers, and dryers), old, rusty cars,
piles of wood or cracked cement with exposed rebar, construction materials,
and more can also draw the interest of a wandering child, potentially
making a property owner liable.

There is no exhaustive list of attractive nuisance property features because
the law is designed to be universally-encompassing: if a victim’s
parent and their Waterbury injury attorney can demonstrate that a feature
was left unsecured and presented danger to children, then they can reasonably
expect that their attractive nuisance claim will be accepted. Thus, the
onus is on property owners to be vigilant about the conditions on their
premises and quickly secure any features that might be dangerous. It’s
important to remember that in the case of children, a warning sign often
won’t do; many children can’t read and don’t understand
the meaning behind caution tape or other potential warning signs.

What to Do If Your Child Is Hurt

If your child has been hurt by an attractive nuisance property feature,
it’s important to get them medical help as soon as possible. Some
more severe injuries can have life-long consequences if they’re
not dealt with as soon as possible, especially with things like concussions
or other brain injuries, deep gashes, or drowning incidents.

Once you have received medical treatment for your child, it’s equally
important to speak with an attorney about your rights as a parent and
determine whether you have a legitimate attractive nuisance claim that
you can hold the property owner responsible for.